The Child Survival, Development, and Thriving (CSDT) programme was introduced to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF) in 2016. The main goal of this programme is the survival, development, and thriving of children under the age of five years, with a particular emphasis on the first 1000 days of life (including pregnancy). Child mortality and malnutrition have been identified as significant issues affecting children under the age of five in South Africa.
In response to this, the CSDT works through implementing partners (IPs) to employ the following three key elements:
- – strengthening of health systems;
- – family outreach; and
- – community outreach.
To strengthen health systems, community healthcare workers (CHWs) are trained to provide quality services to mothers and children. Additionally, CSDT works with clinic committees (CCs) to better provide quality services. For family outreach, CHWs conduct home visits to educate families about pre- and post-natal care, immunisation, nutrition, and early learning and stimulation.
CHWs also conduct community outreach initiatives to promote maternal and child health knowledge. These activities aim to strengthen the links between CHWs, clinics, and communities for sustainability. Furthermore, CSDT engages key stakeholders in maternal and child healthcare (MCHC) to increase access to health and nutrition for pregnant women, mothers, and children under 5. The CSDT collaborates with the three programmes of the Fund to ensure more holistic and integrated efforts to achieve its aims more effectively. In summary, CSDT is founded upon the belief that if families, children under 5, breastfeeding mothers, and fathers are supported by strengthened CHWS, clinics, CCs, and communities to access improved child and maternal healthcare and nutrition, then child malnutrition and mortality will be reduced.
A graphical summary timeline of the CSDT programme for the years 2016 to 2022 is provided below. For further detail on the history of the programme, refer to the CSDT Critical Reflection and Review Document (2022).
NMCF recognises there are numerous challenges the country and its people are facing. The organisation has identified the following most pressing challenges that it would like to contribute towards addressing:
NMCF places children at the heart of their focus and recognises the fact that children are located within a family and a community which is fundamental to their health, safety, wellbeing, empowerment, and the provision and promotion of their holistic rights and responsibilities. Bronfenbrenner’s (1986) socio-ecological framework views child development as a complex system of interactions at multiple levels of the surrounding environment (from family, friends, schools, and communities) to broader-level values, economics, laws, and policies. Bronfenbrenner (1986) divided a person’s environment into different systems, including the micro-system, exo-system, and macro-system
At NMCF, recognition is given to the life-stage approach, and this is reflected in its programmes. Each programme targets a specific stage of life. The CSDT programme specifically targets children under the age of 5 years as child mortality rates within this age group are high. It also has a specific focus on the first 1000 days of life (from conception up to the age of around 2), given the particular vulnerabilities within this age group. Children cannot and should not be considered in isolation, and their surroundings must be considered.
The identified partners will operate in the following priority districts. As illustrated in the map below, a total of 25 priority districts have been identified for the strategic period (2023-2027). A subset of 12 priority districts will be targeted in the first phase (2023) (green pins) and the remaining 13 priority districts will be targeted in the second phase (2025) (red pins). The priority districts specific to CSDT for the first strategic period are shown in orange text.
